The January 2016 panchayat elections held in Haryana are over, and it is a big win for women! Dainik Bhaskar (dated 19 January 2016) reports 41.4% of the elected sarpanches in Panipat district are women and as many as 22 villages of Sonipat have elected a women sarpanch.
Though women in Haryana have come a long way by stepping out of their houses to stand for elections, in reality things have not changed in many villages. The purdah system prevails, girls are married off before they are of legal age, and many become teenage mothers.
How effective will these newly elected woman sarpanches be in improving the status of women in their own villages? Rekha, a PRIA volunteer in Panipat, sums it up: “Just look at these election posters! Most of the community members will not even recognise the woman who is standing for the election, if not for the photo of her father-in-law or husband. Husbands and other male family members will go and ask for our vote on her behalf and she will be home making tea for the guests! Even if she wins, we know who will rule. Look at our society. We are not even allowed to show our faces to the elder male members of our own family, forget showing it to outsiders. But when it comes to gaining power, fame and money in her name, a woman's izzat is not important! Her face is splashed all over the village!"
The candidates who stood for elections have a list of all the families in the village. Since caste plays a big role in elections, these candidates make sure that each individual who is 18 years and above from their caste comes forward and votes for them. These are sure votes. If some members of a family stay away from the village (in Delhi or adjoining districts), and their name is on the voting list, the candidates send private cars to pick them up and bring them to the polling booth. They are dropped back the same day! One can see cars lined up outside each candidate's house all set for these pick ups and drops.
For these elections, the Haryana government had mandated a minimum educational qualification for candidates. This was a big blow to many uneducated individuals who had regularly been standing and winning in the elections. The mandate gave rise to a demand for educated daughter-in-laws! In the wedding season (towards the end of 2015), many men as young as 18 years got married to girls and women who had a college degree. The irony is that some of the girls are married to boys who have barely managed to complete primary school and into families where most members are illiterate. Many of these new daughters-in-law have won. While this mandate can hopefully give a boost to the education of girls, one does wonder: is this women's empowerment or just another way of showing that women are still puppets in the hands of a patriarchal society...
Are these results ground breaking, or heart breaking? I wonder.
